Securities Fraud & Unsuitable Investments

Malecki Law Announces Investigation into Dennis C. Lee, Former AXA Advisors Broker

August 13, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

Malecki Law is investigating potential claims by investors relating to Dennis C. Lee, a former AXA Advisors, LLC broker who was recently terminated by the firm in April 2015. According to Mr. Lee’s publicly available Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) BrokerCheck report, he was “discharged for failing to disclose financial issues requiring Form U4 amendments, mismarking trade tickets, and placing securities trades away from AXA.” If substantiated, each of these failings could be potentially serious violations of securities laws and rules.

According to Mr. Lee’s BrokerCheck report, he has had other legal issues, including one FINRA Arbitration proceeding that was filed by a customer in February 2015 alleging that he made unsuitable investment recommendations, transferred funds to a new account without the customer’s knowledge or consent, engaged in unauthorized trading and submitted policy documents containing a forged signature. The BrokerCheck report also details two settlements between Mr. Lee and American Express and Ballys Park Place Casino Resort.

It is believed that other investors may have been misinformed about trading that may have taken place in their accounts that were managed by Mr. Lee. It is further believed that Mr. Lee may have used his ethnicity and religious background to obtain clients. The SEC has cautioned investors against affinity fraud, which refers to investment scams that prey on members of religious or ethnic communities, the elderly or other professional groups. More information regarding affinity and other investment-related fraud can be found on the Malecki Law website.

Top Broker Thomas Buck: First Fired, Now Barred

July 29, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

According to a Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), Thomas Buck has been barred by FINRA from working with any FINRA member firms. Mr. Buck was a former top broker at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and was at the time a broker at RBC Wealth Management.

Mr. Buck was a registered broker at Merrill Lynch’s Carmel, Indiana office, which was part of the firm’s Indiana complex. While at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Buck, who reportedly oversaw $1.3 billion in assets, was accused of failing to discuss pricing alternatives with customers, among other allegations. In addition, Mr. Buck was accused of unauthorized trading and using discretion in customer accounts improperly and in violation of FINRA Rules.

Buck was reportedly fired from Merrill Lynch in March. Just four months after, he was reported as being barred from working at any FINRA-associated broker-dealer. According to FINRA, Mr. Buck used commission-based accounts even though fee-based accounts would have been less expensive for clients. In some cases, clients were allegedly charged significantly more in commissions by virtue of the fact that they were not placed in fee-based accounts.

UBS Puerto Rico Brokers Expected to be Terminated Amid Significant UBS Closed-End Bond Fund Litigation

July 2, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

The Wall Street Journal reported on July 2, 2015 that many investors may suffer losses as a result of the attempts by Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to restructure its debt with its creditors in order to avoid a default and other Puerto Rico economic woes.

While clearly many investors are and will continue to be harmed in this market, the pain is likely to be harder felt by two sets of victims of UBS’s closed-end bond funds that are tied to debt issued by PREPA, other utilities and Puerto Rico’s general obligation bonds.

We recently wrote regarding how the brokers who recommend products such as UBS’s closed-end funds may have also been given faulty information from the firm. Then, Reuters ran an article describing a taped meeting at UBS where leadership threatened the UBS Puerto Rico brokers to sell the closed-end funds at all costs despite growing concerns about the products. In one of the first arbitration awards to be announced in which UBS was ordered to pay $1 million to an investor related to the UBS closed-end bond funds, a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitrator stated that a recommendation of the bond fund was unsuitable because it was “grossly overconcentrated… any proper UBS branch office or other review should have detected such obvious unsuitability.”

Broker Keith M. Rogers Indicted on Securities Fraud Charges in Alabama

June 24, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

It was recently reported that Keith M. Rogers, formerly employed by GLS & Associates, Inc., a FINRA broker-dealer, has been indicted and held on $2 million bond on securities fraud charges, where it was reported that he took investors’ money to pay for personal expenses and repay other investors, a classic Ponzi scheme scenario. Previously, it was reported that Mr. Rogers was ordered by the Alabama Securities Commission to cease and desist from dealing in securities in the State of Alabama. In September 2014, Mr. Rogers apparently consented to a bar from the securities industry was barred from the securities industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for failing to cooperate in FINRA’s investigation into Mr. Roger’s alleged diversion of customer funds away from GLS brokerage accounts. According to the Administrative Order filed by the Alabama Securities Commission Mr. Rogers facilitated transactions in a company called R&P Development LLC from 2009 through 2013, when he was registered by GLS & Associates, Inc. and Warren Averett Asset Management.

FINRA specifies strict rules on a broker’s ability to solicit business to businesses that are not run by their employing broker-dealer. Malecki Law attorneys have seen instances where employing broker-dealers fail to properly supervise a broker’s activities. According to FINRA Rules, Broker-dealers like GLS & Associates Inc. have an important non-delegable duty to supervise the conduct of their financial advisors and employees. The firm may be held liable for customer losses if the firm failed to properly supervise their employees. If a broker violates FINRA Rules or securities laws, both the broker and the broker’s employing firm may be held liable for the customer’s losses.

Malecki Law has previously represented many investors successfully in FINRA arbitration proceedings involving outside business activities and firms’ failures to supervise their registered representatives and financial advisors. If you believe you have suffered losses as a result of questionable actions taken in your securities account, please contact us immediately for a confidential consultation.

What is Elder Abuse?

June 17, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

As the U.S. baby boomers look toward retirement, a larger percentage of the population will become senior-aged individuals who will have a substantial amount of savings that may be used to fund investments. It is more important than ever to keep in mind that everyone needs to take as much care over their retirement nest egg now as they did when they were diligently saving. The New Jersey Bureau of Securities has issued a new release to commemorate World Elder Abuse Awareness Day and remind senior-aged investors to be wary of financial fraud.

In the news release, the NJ Bureau noted that one in five Americans over the age of 65 are victims of financial fraud, making it one of the fastest growing forms of elder abuse. However, the news release noted that anyone over than 55, whether working or retired, may be viewed as a potential target for financial fraud.

The NJ Bureau of Securities listed several types of financial fraud to be careful of, including:

New York based Arjent, LLC Executive Robert DePalo Indicted by Manhattan District Attorney

May 22, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

Foreign investors continue to be targets of investment fraud. Bloomberg Business has reported that broker-dealer Arjent LLC Chief Executive Officer Robert DePalo has been indicted by a New York Grand Jury on charges related to misappropriation of $6.5 million from U.K. investors for personal expenses, including his mortgage and luxury cars. In addition to the action brought by the New York Manhattan District Attorney, the Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that it also brought its own parallel action in Manhattan federal court.

According to the article, Mr. DePalo is alleged to have misappropriated millions from foreign investors in a holding company called Pangaea Trading Partners LLC. Mr. DePalo is alleged to have engaged in high-pressure sales tactics and stating falsehoods about the company’s assets and how it would invest the money received. The Bloomberg article reported that according to the SEC, the Mr. DePalo transferred the money directly into bank accounts controlled by himself and his partner Joshua Gladtke. The SEC is reported to also have alleged that Mr. DePalo sought to cover up the fraud from regulators.

Lately, the attorneys at Malecki Law have noticed an uptick in schemes, including high-pressure sales tactics, targeting foreign investors. These tactics may include little-known securities investments, repeated calls and emails to the targeted investors and misrepresentations made concerning the viability of the company that issued the underlying securities.

Broker Dealer Financial Services Corp. Fined By FINRA Over Nontraditional ETF Sales and Improper Supervision

May 21, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

Broker Dealer Financial Services Corp. (BDFS) based out of West Des Moines, Iowa just learned the hard way that nontraditional Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are risky, speculative investments and are not appropriate for all investors.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently fined BDFS $75,000 for 1. failing to properly supervise the sale of leveraged ETFs to its customers, 2. not properly training its sales force about the appropriate use of leveraged ETFs in customer accounts, and 3. not adequately supervising nontraditional ETF activity in customer accounts.

According the Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent, from March of 2009 to April of 2012, BDFS “recommended nontraditional ETFs to more than 200 customers” without “a reasonable basis for believing that the nontraditional ETF transactions it recommended were suitable for any investor.” BDFS’s ETF related misconduct was said to have violated NASD Rules 2310 and 3010 along with FINRA Rules 2010 and 2111.

Former Investment Advisor who Taught at University of Washington Pleads Guilty In Connection with Ponzi Scheme

May 20, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

A former University of Washington faculty member pled guilty in connection with a Ponzi scheme that lasted at least six years. It has been reported by the Washington State Sky Valley Chronicle on May 20, 2015 that Satyen Chatterjee, who owned and operated a financial advisory business called Strategic Capital Management, Inc. for more than twenty years. The news article reported that the Washington State Department of Financial Operations ordered the business to cease operating illegally in 2013. The guilty plea was also announced by the Federal Bureau of Investigations in a press release dated May 18, 2015.

According to the article, Mr. Chatterjee used his faculty post at the University of Washington to promote his advisory business. The article went on the detail that Mr. Chatterjee convinced investors to transfer funds on the belief they were purchasing fixed rate securities, when in reality he transferred the money to personal bank accounts to fund his lifestyle or lost the money day trading. Also detailed in the article was another scheme whereby Mr. Chatterjee solicited investments in a nutrient supplement company, but used that money to pay off investors who thought they invested in the fixed rate securities.

According to the FBI press release, Mr. Chatterjee admitted to the scheme to defraud investors during a period of 2007 to 2013. The FBI press release estimates that at least six investors were defrauded out of more than $600,000.

SEC Charges Rhode Island Broker and Financial Advisor Patrick Churchville with Ponzi Scheme

May 15, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

Not far from the home of the original “Ponzi scheme” in Boston, the SEC filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island on May 7, 2015 alleging that financial advisor and former broker Patrick Churchville operated a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of $11 million. The SEC complaint alleged that the fraud was run out of a company called Clearpath Wealth Management, LLC.

According to the SEC complaint, Mr. Churchville operated a Ponzi scheme by using investments from new investors to pay the distribution claims of old investors. The SEC also alleged that Mr. Churchville diverted approximately $2.5 million of investor funds to purchase his home overlooking Narragansett Bay. Local News Station WPRI reported on its website that the home is now up for sale for $3.5 million.

The SEC alleged that the fraud began in around December of 2010. According to his publicly available Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) CRD report, Mr. Churchville was registered by Spire Securities, LLC from August 2009 through February 2011, during the time that the SEC alleged fraudulent conduct occurred. Broker-dealers generally have an obligation to supervise the offices where their registered employees such as Mr. Churchville work. It is unclear from the SEC’s complaint or FINRA CRD what, if any, disclosure was made to Mr. Churchville’s investors by the firm.

FINRA Looks To Come Down Harder On Brokers And Firms Making Unsuitable Recommendations to Customers

May 13, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

What should happen to a financial advisor (FA) if they provide unsuitable and inappropriate investment advice to their clients?

First, if the unsuitable advice given to a customer caused losses to that customer’s account, the customer has the option to sue the FA in FINRA arbitration. Investors can recover some or all of their losses due to the bad advice – usually against the firm that the FA worked for in a failure to supervise case. Arbitration is common for aggrieved investors, and this law firm has successfully represented numerous investors who have been the victims of unsuitable investment advice from an FA.

But what about punishing the broker, so he or she doesn’t do it again to someone else? Can they go to jail? If not, what does happens?